A man armed with a meat cleaver and a large knife has been arrested after allegedly threatening Jews on Upper Clapton Road in North London.

The man is said to have tried to enter a kosher food shop but staff locked the door. He then allegedly entered another kosher shop brandishing his knives and shouting: “Where is the boss, I will kill him!” When told that the owner was not there, the man, who is described as white, allegedly ran out of the shop towards two Jewish girls aged 8 and 14, shouting “You Jews run away from here before I kill you.”

Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, received multiple calls to their emergency lines and deployed immediately. Witnesses allegedly saw the man enter a block of flats on Rossington Street to which Shomrim volunteers followed him and cordoned off the area, whilst another Shomrim team retrieved CCTV from the shop the man had allegedly entered. Shomrim passed their information to the Metropolitan Police Service. Armed police immediately entered the block of flats and arrested a 61-year-old man on suspicion of affray and possession of an offensive weapon. He was taken to a north London police station where he remains in custody.

This is an extremely frightening incident and it is very fortunate that there are no injuries reported. We commend Stamford Hill Shomrim and the Metropolitan Police Service for their bravery in rushing to the scene to protect the public. Violent antisemitic crime continues to rise at an alarming rate and will continue to do so until antisemitic incitement is taken seriously by the authorities before it translates into violence. It is inexcusable that in Britain in 2017, Campaign Against Antisemitism has had to take the Crown Prosecution Service to the High Court and undertake private prosecutions itself because the authorities have failed to act.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.